The Battle of 1867: A Contemporary Look at the Social Rivalry Between Morehouse College & Howard University
By.
Carron J. Phillips
This weekend, The Maroon Tigers of Morehouse College will travel from Atlanta to Washington D.C. to face the Howard University Bison in the second annual Nation’s Football Classic. Last year’s inaugural game marked the first time that the two HBCU powerhouse institutions met in 14 years. While other historic college football rivalries are focused around the game, this one isn’t.
Both schools want to walk away victorious, but are more concerned about winning at the game of life. The Morehouse/Howard rivalry dates back to the 1920s, as the two institutions have always been considered two of the most popular and distinguished HBCUs. The academic excellence both intuitions have achieved over the years, their esteemed alumni bases, and the debate over who has the best Homecoming are just a few reasons why Morehouse/Howard are friendly rivals. Before the Nation’s Classic was announced last year, Black Enterprise’s yearly rankings were the only place where the two schools competed. But the growth of Social Media also took the rivalry to another level as it gave alums and undergrads an opportunity to take their school pride viral.
It’s Chocolate City vs. The A, the North vs. the South, the Real HU vs. Hillman, and the best co-ed HBCU vs. the best two single sex schools (SpelHouse). Graduates of both institutions have molded the cities where these schools are located. Atlanta’s current Mayor, Kasim Reed, is a Howard alum. Singer/Songwriter Eric Roberson, another Howard grad, who penned the anthem “Howard Girls” also resides in The A. The first two black presidents at Howard were Morehouse Men, (Mordecai Wyatt Johnson & James M. Nabrit.) as the school’s greatest alumnus, Dr. King, memorial stands on the National Mall.
Part 1: From Old School to New School 
Andre Patillo (Morehouse Athletic Director; Class of 79’)
“When I played football during 74’ –78’ we never played a Howard or a Hampton while I was there.”
Henry Goodgame (Morehouse Director of Alumni Relations; Class of 85’)
“I remember the Morehouse/Howard game in the 80s when Spike Lee, Sidney Poitier and Miss America were around. It was every other year and it was awesome. It was the biggest thing for both institutions.”
Bruce Speight (Howard Band Member; Class of 90’)
“When I was a freshman I think that marked the first time that Howard traveled to Atlanta to play Morehouse. It was also one of the first times that Howard had brought the band down. I remember playing “Word Up” by Cameo.”
Dr. Sheri Campbell (Howard University; Class of 91’)
“I made the trip down to Atlanta every year that it was at Morehouse and it’s a huge rivalry. I’m actually quite glad that they’ve made it into a classic because it’s always been reminiscent of that but wasn’t really built as that before.”
Kyle Yeldell (Third generation Washingtonian & Second Generation Morehouse Man; Class of 06’)
“In the book “Our Kind Of People” there’s a chapter that’s entitled “Howard, Morehouse and Spelman: The Three Schools That Matter.” Ever since that book came out it made us not necessarily rivals, but probably closer with everybody else coming for us. It’s like we have a target on our backs and the only other school that understands that is Howard.”
Cheeky Sasso (Cheeky Sasso Entertainment, Tuskegee University; Class of 96’)
“I was at the introductory conversation with the guy who pioneered the whole movement. Erik Moses of the D.C Sports Council created this event and we bumped into each other in Atlanta and had some conversations about it, his wife is a Spelmanite. He saw the vision of creating this celebratory game and movement because it was such a popular game back in the day.”
Mabel Simon (Howard University; Class of 2012)
“I volunteered with the D.C. Sports Council while they were working on the Classic last year and they picked both schools because of the rivalry and the tradition and they wanted to bring that back to D.C.”
Patillo: “When I took over in 2000 there was an outcry from several people about the possibilities about Morehouse and Howard playing. For a number of years I tried to renew the rivalry but for several reasons it was never able to take place until we struck the interest of the D.C. Sports Council.”
Yeldell: “We are the model schools for HBCUs. The SpelHouse vs. Howard conversation serves as the three archetypes for HBCUs. If you want an all male institution you base it after Morehouse. If you want all female, you base it on Spelman. And if you want a co-ed institution you base it off Howard.” 
Sasso: “It’s such a necessary game because it brings people together from all walks of life. When you look at the history of the two institutions whether it be the Mordecai Johnson Movement or the Benjamin Mays Movement and competing in academia and intelligencia and sports, it’s very necessary to keep the HBCU tradition existing in America today.”
Joe Carlos (Spent his freshmen year at Howard but later transferred to Morehouse; Class of 04’)
“At Howard, they’re just so cool. To be a Howard Bison you’re just too cool for anything. You’re the coolest cat in the world and whatever you do is the best and the livest. You really don’t see any other school as your rival or an equal as your peers.
“At Morehouse, we’re a Southern school and I don’t care how much we try to fight it. We’re much more congenial and loving, and when we say brother we really mean it. We take everything thing about our school seriously, forever. I know that Howard alums take Howard seriously too, but ask them to sing their school song or name four presidents.”
Darryl Lockett (Howard University; Class of 05’)
“At Howard we don’t even really care about the band. For many black colleges they go to the game to hear the band, I couldn’t even recognize the drum major from my four years of school. And that’s a different element that we have from some other HBCUs in the South.”
Karen Hayes (Howard University; Class of 88’)
“There is more of The Morehouse Mystique around the Morehouse guys. Being at Howard and seeing those guys every single day and appreciating and loving them, there just wasn’t that same level of mystique because I was at Howard. It’s something about those Maroon jackets that makes even the average guy look better.”
Carlos: “When those two schools get together it is amazing! It’s a whole new crop of girls. In 1996, we didn’t have Facebook, we had to make it happen! There wasn’t a guarantee you had a phone, definitely not a cell phone. You might have had a pager and only some of us had email.”
Goodgame: “There is nothing like the Morehouse and Howard rivalry because we have so many parallels. They use the “Mecca” and we use the “Mystique.”
Dr. Campbell: “Back in the day we were definitely trying to meet the brothers when we were coming down and wanted to party and hang out until whenever. If you were Greek there was added incentive and more parties to go to.”
Jeff Tate (JK Productions)
“This is pretty much like the Black Super Bowl.”
Part 2: The Rivalry Meets Social Media
A few weeks before the inaugural Nation’s Football Classic, a “Howard v. Morehouse” Facebook Trash Talk page was started. Since Morehouse and Howard were the first two HBCUS on Facebook back in 2004 it was irony at its best, but on November 3rd 2006 the rivalry may have reached an all time high when Jozen Cummings – Howard Class of 2004 – introduced the rivalry to the Internet. His “infamous” Facebook note was short and to the point. It contained only two paragraphs and one notorious picture, but drew 526 comments.
“For some reason or another, I’ve recently ran into some people who dare say Morehouse men are better than Howard men, so I did some research, and here’s what I found.
For those who don’t know, the man holding the umbrella graduated from Morehouse. The man for whom the umbrella is being held attended Howard for two years and is an honorary graduate. Thus, a two-year Howard education might be worth more than a four year Morehouse education. I could be wrong though.
Howard men make their manservants famous.”
Jozen Cummings (Howard University; Class of 04’)
“I never meant to start anything, I was just having some fun. Its one thing to say our alumni are straight better than yours and there is nothing you can do to about it. That’s when I was put into a position where I had to defend my school and put yours down in the process.”
Yeldell: “Morehouse and Howard have always been competitors but we’ve never had a forum besides Black Enterprises rankings.”
Carlos: “I didn’t know who Jozen was at all. But I remember that day vividly. I was in Houston recruiting and was about to take a nap when I got a text that said, “Get on Facebook now! I Googled his name and saw that he was a writer, and I just remember that it was me and Bryce Adams and we were back-to-back with each other fighting off cats in the message thread.”
Lockett: “It’s fun to go back and forth in the spirit of things and say which school is better. But I think we do it from a very elitist prospective not realizing that we have been anointed as HBCUS that look down on others, and that’s unfortunate.”
Cummings: “In a way I think the rivalry was always there, but it was kind of quiet. We don’t play in the same divisions or conference, but socially it was. Both schools are affiliated with success and accomplishment so it was already in place in other ways and there is a lot of mutual respect but nobody publicly ever came out and said we’re better than you. But when I wrote the note the response was so crazy that it wasn’t until right after it that I realized I started something.”
Yeldell: “The note gave us something to put our attention to and made it public. It made us publicly talk about the rivalry. It went from being unsaid to where we had to talk about it amongst the schools, so the note definitely helped in the sense.”
Lockett: “It can become an issue when you have this conversation in the open and things that we make amongst ourselves about become known and misinterpreted amongst an audience that may not be truly in support of the HBCU experience.”
Cummings: “I think it took me all of 20 minutes to figure out that I crossed the line. At that time I didn’t know a lot of Morehouse people in my circle, but I do now. I didn’t realize what I did. I should have, but I didn’t. But it wasn’t until one of my good friends from Spelman told me that I crossed the line and it was serious. But I wasn’t going to take it back or apologize for it. I felt like the tone would switch and people would realize it was all in good fun. But it didn’t unearth that rivalry that has always been there.”
Carlos: “That day and time it was serious. My homeboy Jason Smith was at NYU Law and he was ready to argue with somebody and ask people what they do. But the back and forth was fun, and at one point we all traded contact info just in case we needed each other out here.”
Cummings: “I met a lot of people off the strength of that note who lived in New York and went to Morehouse. I would be out and people would be like “Yo, I know who you are. You’re the one that wrote that night.”
“Til this day, and we’re almost going on six years, I meet people who still remember and recognize me from that note. It just shows the power of Facebook and social media. It may not be the reason why we have the Classic, but I’m confident that it’s the reason why when people go they recognize others and end up hanging out.”
Part 3: The Homecoming Debate.
It may not be politically correct, and school administrators may cringe when the statement is made, but one of the best parts about attending a HBCU is Homecoming. Unlike PWIs (Predominately White Institutions) HBCU grads plan their PTO and vacation days around that yearly fall weekend when they get to go home. Hampton, North Carolina A&T, FAMU and Tennessee State all make good arguments, but the debate about who has the greatest Homecoming on Earth has always been between SpelHouse and Howard. However, both have two very distinct vibes. Howard has more of a “come one, come all” feel, and has been mentioned in lyrics by Ludacris and Biggie. On the other hand, SpelHouse has a different flow. It’s all about reuniting with the people that you spent the best four years of your life with.
Yeldell: “D.C. and Atlanta are always compared to each other and it just kind of fits. It’s one of the only rivalries where the two cities compete with each other as well.”
Carlos: “We have the best homecoming, theirs is a party for the city of D.C. Ours is a homecoming you have to go to. Ours is a celebration, as a former Homecoming director I can say ours is truly a homecoming. It’s not for everybody else, it’s for us. Howard doesn’t really tailgate, they just started in the last three to five years so they don’t really understand that part yet.”
Lockett: “Tailgating is still new to the new era of Howard alums. We’re probably in our third year of organized tailgating.”
Goodgame: “We have the best homecoming by far. SpelHouse Homecoming has nothing to be compared to. Look around and see how many Howard folks show up. The only reason we may not have the best is if they happen on the same weekend, but other than that there is nothing like a SpelHouse Homecoming.”
Speight: “Man, come on. Is that even a question? I went back to Howard’s Homecoming a few years ago and they’ve taken it to another level. They have tents of soul food right on the yard and I remember back in the day when I was in school and you would see A Tribe Called Quest and Queen Latifah on the yard just freestyling.”
Simon: “I haven’t been to a SpelHouse Homecoming but it doesn’t matter, everybody knows Howard’s is the best. I think only SpelHouse people think theirs is the best. Biggie knew it, Diddy knew it. Everybody knows we’re the best and that’s one thing that won’t change.”
Hayes: “I went to both my freshmen year and I was really objective not having been at either before, but whether you went to the school or not you can have a ton of fun at Howard’s Homecoming. Although I had a great time at Morehouse’s I think I had a good time because I knew people there as opposed to if I just walked up and didn’t know anybody.”
“Until this day Howard still has the best Homecoming week, and I’ve only missed Howard’s homecoming once since 1983.”
Carlos: “When it comes to the totality of homecoming, ours is better because it’s more comprehensive.”
Lockett: “Our homecoming is more of a black social event similar to any other advertised black party weekend. Where as SpelHouse has more of a reunion feel. We might have just as many people who didn’t attend Howard looking forward to ours, but things seem to be more of a reunion at SpelHouse.”
Yeldell: “If you’re going just to have a good time then Howard’s is the best. Howard’s has become like Essence Festival or the NBA All-Star game where celebrities throw most of their parties. If it’s not thrown by people I went to college with then I don’t care. I don’t want people coming to my homecoming that don’t have an attachment to my school. It’s just a party in October in D.C., but it’s a homecoming in Atlanta at SpelHouse.
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